


The Struggles of a Team Leader

by AnimeWolf38



Series: Blue Wild Destiny AU [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Azure just has a crush on ruby, Both of them need a hug, But whatever, F/F, Let Ruby breakdown, Mental Breakdown, Night Terrors, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Set during Volume 6, The shipping isn’t obvious, alone in the woods, its just kinda implied, this is really bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:56:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22397449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnimeWolf38/pseuds/AnimeWolf38
Summary: While at the abandoned house in the middle of nowhere, Azure awakens from a nightmare in a panic. Ruby is quick to aid her, but ends up being comforted herself.
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Original Character
Series: Blue Wild Destiny AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655332
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	The Struggles of a Team Leader

**Author's Note:**

> Let me have this please. Not much has been released about my AU but I wrote this on a whim because I wanted to finally write about someone seeing Azure awaken in a panic after a nightmare of the Fall of Beacon. And this ended up happening.

Azure awoke with a gasp, clutching her chest through her shirt. Her nails dug deeply into her skin as tears began to stream down her face.

She knew she must have woken someone up, she was loud. It was too loud. Her ears were ringing and she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t-

Azure felt arms wrap around her frame, firmly holding her to them as she wheezed desperately, her cries coming out as breathless choking noises.

Someone shushed her softly, a hand rubbing her back softly in a steady pattern. It was soothing something to focus on.

“Breathe,” they whispered, their voice right in their ear. It was vaguely familiar, the soft feminine voice. “Can you do that for me?”

Azure tried to choke out a reply, but found herself too airless to do so. It sent her into another wave of panic and she dug her nails deeper into her shirt. The skin was starting to break under the pressure of her sharp, claw-like nails.

The voice shushed her again. “Breathe. In and out.” Their hand never stopped rubbing her back.

Azure tried to scream that she was trying, but it came out as a garbled whimper, a pathetic cry for help.

They took the hand off her back and Azure almost whimpered at the missing contact. She didn’t dwell on it long, as that very hand clutched her own that was pressed into her chest.

Azure’s hand was pulled from her shirt, making the stinging pain from her own nails more prominent. The hand began to rub her own, the toughness of their skin obvious.

“It’s okay. Just follow my voice.” They began to steadily repeat themselves, giving Azure a guide

Azure finally felt herself calm slightly. She let out a shaky breath. The figure around her seemed to relax as well.

She wanted to see who they were, but her vision was blinded by their body, her face having been pressed into their chest.

“What happened?” They asked, and Azure almost jerked away at the voice. With the ringing in her ears no longer blocking other noise, she could easily tell who it was.

“R-Ruby?” Azure wheezed out, her voice scratchy from crying.

Ruby pulled Azure away by her shoulders and smiled softly at her, her silver eyes glinting softly from the pale moonlight illuminating the room. Azure was almost blinded, her night vision making it easy to make out Ruby.

“I’m sorry,” Azure mumbles, glancing away in guilt. No one should have seen her like this. She couldn't be a burden. If she began to break, then there was a chance the others would too. She couldn’t be another weight on their shoulders.

But this place just rattled her to the core. It tore the inside of her mind, finding her deepest fears and manifesting them, piling them on to her. This place terrified her. It wasn’t right. Something was wrong.

“You don’t have to apologize,” Ruby says lightly. Azure lowers her head. A small and rough hand rested on her cheek, ghosting over the skin. A couple seconds passed and Ruby placed her hand more firmly, raising Azure’s head. Their eyes met and Azure’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of the soft pools of silver. She hadn’t made eye contact with someone with both of her eyes since…

Azure cut off that train of thought and forced her gaze away, her eyes looking to the side even as she was facing Ruby.

“B...but I h-have to be str-rong, Ruby…”

“Azure.” Ruby’s voice was stern. Azure’s gaze jerked back to Ruby, fear spiking in her for a second before it died. Azure had never heard her like this before. She really had changed, but her eyes were still soft, though they had hardened since The Fall. Azure couldn’t bring herself to break eye contact. “It’s okay to cry. You don’t have to be strong all the time. We all have got your back.

“That night was rough for us all.” A pause. “I-I still get nightmares,” Ruby admitted, and Azure’s eyes widened. It was so hard to forget Ruby was just a normal girl sometimes. She acted so much older than a sixteen year old girl. The weight of the world was on her shoulders, and she never visibly stumbled.

“Ruby…”

“I see them. I see Penny... and Pyrrha. I could have prevented their death. Azure, I could have kept this whole thing from happening but,” her voice cracked, “I wasn’t fast enough. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t good enough.” Ruby almost broke. A tear slipped down her face and Azure was dumbstruck.

Ruby let out a quiet sob, and suddenly Azure was able to snap herself out of it. She leaned forward quickly, wrapping her arms around Ruby and putting her chin on top of her head.

Ruby continued to sob for a while as Azure simply held her. She ran her fingers through her hair, her nails lightly scratching her skull.

Ruby almost melts against her, and Azure smiles, proud of herself at finally being able to help someone, let alone someone she had looked up to since their first day at Beacon.

Azure almost laughs aloud at the fact that she had to do that quite literally now. The younger girl had passed Azure somehow in height and she was almost jealous.

A few minutes later, or maybe even an hour later, Azure didn’t know or care anymore, Ruby pulled herself from Azure’s embrace, her eyes were still puffy and red. She looked like she hadn’t slept in weeks, and Azure wouldn’t be surprised if that was actually the case.

“Sorry,” she apologizes quickly and moved to stand. “I shouldn’t have dumped my problems on you like that and…”

Azure gripped Ruby’s upper arms before she could move, effectively trapping her in place.

“You need to practice what you preach.”

Ruby giggled at that, and Azure found herself joining her.

“I know,” she admitted. “It’s just hard to bring it up, you know. I’m the leader.”

“I get it,” Azure said, nothing but honesty and care in her voice. “But you need to talk about it Ruby, it’s bad to bottle it up.”

“How about,” Ruby began, “the next time we have trouble, we talk to each other. Or we tell someone else. We need to stay together.”

Azure only grins.

Their moment is broken by a squeal and Azure almost falls over. She looks behind Ruby to see Yang watching them, having woken up at some point.

“Yang!” both girls hissed in unison.

**Author's Note:**

> Ruby ended up being comforted too because I love her with all my heart and she needs to talk to someone. Also I barely looked over this after writing it in forty minutes I will die like a man. Also Yang shows up because someone had to have woken up but that’d be a pain so I figured I’d have Yang lighten the mood a bit. I have no clue if I’m gonna pursue the idea of Azure having a crush on Ruby in my main story, but if I do, it will probably be one sided.


End file.
